Sunday, November 25, 2018

Review of Bernhardt, Die jüdische Revolution

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: Johannes Christian Bernhardt, Die jüdische Revolution: Untersuchungen zu Ursachen, Verlauf und Folgen der hasmonäischen Erhebung. KLIO. Beiträge zur Alten Geschichte. Beihefte, neue Folge, Band 22. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017. Pp. xiii, 726. ISBN 9783050064819. €99,95. Reviewed by Jan Willem van Henten, Universiteit van Amsterdam (J.W.vanHenten@uva.nl).
This revised dissertation offers two books for the price of one: It deals with what is usually called the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Maccabean Revolt with its aftermath. The book’s title is a clue to Bernhardt’s interpretation of the events (as explained on p. 34 and 484). The entire process of the causes, course and impact of the Maccabean revolt, together with the discursive development of Judean identity, points to a Judean or, better, a Jewish revolution. Besides a very detailed history of this revolution, the book offers a historiography of the events with detailed surveys of previous scholarship (up to 2015) and appendices about many issues dealt with by previous scholars.

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